: but we all have to be safe. ms. robinson: because we're all in this together. narrator: making our school buildings safer. ms. robinson: working together, we can make it a great year. narrator: because the california teachers association knows quality public schools make a better california for all of us. good tuesday morning everyone. craig melvin here. 42 days out from our traditional election day. the supreme court vacancy has republicans and democrats mobilizing for a knock-down, drag-out fight, another one. we're keeping a close eye on the senate. that's where this fight just took a bit of a tough turn for democrats. the math to block a potential nominee just got a whole lot harder. senator dick durbin there. senator mitt romney after days of silence announcing in the last hour he will support a vote this year on that open seat. >> i recognize that we may have

a court which has more of a conservative bent than it's had over the last few decades, but my liberal friends have over many decades gotten very used to the idea of having a liberal court. that's not written in the stars. >> the fight energizing voters. moments ago senator kamala harris landed for a couple of campaign stops in michigan. as a member of the senate judiciary committee, senator harris could be a defining yig your in this fight on both capitol hill and the campaign trail. right now for his president, president trump pushing forward with the nomination already, meeting with one of the judges on the short list. he said this morning he's going to be announcing his choice on saturday. let's get right to our reporters covering this fast-moving supreme court fight. garrett haake on capitol hill. shannon pettypiece covering the white house for us. mr. headache, i'll start with

you. hopes among democrats that senator rm any would side with them. those hopes are dashed now. how big of a deal is this? >> reporter: it's huge, craig. this basically closing the door for democrats on blocking this nomination, barring some major screw-up here in the process of when we actually get a nominee. romney was one of the very few republicans who has both a history of bucking president trump when necessary and who might have sided with democrats on the propriety issue, the idea that voting this close to, really during an election, might not be appropriate. i've covered mitt romney for going on a decade now, i can tell you he likes conservative judges just as much as the next republican and he's a stickler for the rules and all their undersentimental technicality. that's what you heard from him explaining his decision a short time ago. listen to what he said. >> the idea that the merrick garland decision was unfair and, therefore, it has to be made up

by doing something which also wouldn't make a lot of sense, saying to president trump you can't get your nominee either. that doesn't follow for me. the garland decision was consistent with history. the decision to proceed with a new nominee is consistent with history and precedent. that's where i come out. >> reporter: really, craig, this clears the way for the president to select a nominee. frankly, now it's up to the president and his nominee to see if they're going to be able to get through. essentially the president has to convince 50 of the 53 senate republicans that this person deserves to be on the bench. if they don't like his person, there's joe biden around the corner that might make a selection soon on the other side. a straightforward math problem now for democrats. >> math problem aside, garrett, are there options for democrats at this point? is there anything that they could do to der rail this or stop it, and if so what? >> reporter: not really is the short answer.

we'll see when a nominee is picked and that person's background is delved into as we saw with brett kavanaugh, for example. democrats held up that process significantly as we got into all of the allegations surrounding brett kavanaugh. as it stands right now, there's not much for democrats to do except to really attack republicans for their hypocrisy, which is what we saw chuck schumer do on the floor a short time ago. >> leader mcconnell has defiled the senate like no one in this generation. leader mcconnell may very well destroy it. if leader mcconnell presses forward, the republican majority will have stolen two supreme court seats, four years apart using completely contradictory rationales. how can we expect to trust the other side again? >> reporter: craig, it remains

to be seen that what we might see from democrats is a pivot toward trying to make this an election issue, talking about how another conservative justice might affect things like health care, abortion rights. there's any number of issues here that democrats could seize on to try to run on this because in the senate their options to stop it are vanishingly few. >> stand by for me, garrett, if you can. shannon, president trump again announcing via twitter that he is going to announce his pick on saturday. we know he's met with judge amy coney barrett. that happened yesterday what do we know so far about where the white house is in this process? >> our reporting also indicates that when he does make this announcement, expect some sort of primetime big white house rollout like we saw with gorsuch and the kavanaugh nominations. now, as far as what comes next with picking a nominee, the president has said he's going to push this until saturday. that gives him the potential to meet with one other judge.

you mentioned he mate with amy coney barrett. but that's judge la guy yeah. the president will be in miami on sunday. there are plans to meet while the president is down in florida on that day and he could make a decision thereafter. going to the point garrett was making, the big question comes about timing for when this vote is. i've been hearing from people close to the white house that there's a lot of debate and consideration going on about whether or not a vote in the senate before the election is more politically advantageous versus after the election. there is a camp arguing that having this as an open issue on election day could help senators who are in tough races in traditionally red states, like a ma that mcsally or joni ernst, that the idea that a vote for a supreme court nominee after the election could drag some senators across the finish line by signaling you better make sure you hold on to this

republican seat because we have a vote after the election. that's the next big political calculus to go with. judge coney barrett would be a solid conservative pick. she's one of these culture warriors, very pro life, a devout catholic, someone who the conservative elements of this party would like to see. judge lagoa would help the president with cuban americans in florida. she has cuban roots. she is from florida, but could help with more moderate voters in the suburbs. >> stand by, shannon. garrett, going back to the process here, in terms of the timeline we know judge barrett has been vetted. who is to say during the course of the vetting process something isn't discovered or uncovered that lawmakers on either side of the aisle may not have been

aware of. how fast can they really do this if. >> reporter: that's entirely possible, craig. that's exactly what we saw with brett kavanaugh. the reality is the republicans will try to shorten the timeline as much as possible for that reason. if the president makes a pick on saturday, i could see it being maybe two weeks until they could schedule a hearing in the judiciary committee for members to get ready, vote on the committee and another couple weeks to the floor. part of the republicans' job will be to prevent opposition researchers from finding exactly that kind of information that could trip up a nominee. >> all right. garrett haake for us on the hill. garrett, thank you. shannon pettypiece, stay with me for just a moment. this hour senator kamala harris is campaigning in flint, michigan. the democratic vice presidential nominee just landed a few moments ago. she'll be making a swing through flint and detroit.

nbc's valley vitali is covering the senator's visit. i want to bring in national political reporter sahil kapur. as harris lands there, how big of a role does this supreme court fight, this looming battle, how is that playing in a message to voters? >> reporter: what's going to be interesting, craig, is watching how this manifests on the campaign trail. we know there's a record interest level from voters in this election, 80% of voters saying they are highly interested in this presidential election according to this latest nbc "wall street journal" poll. it might allow kamala harris and joe biden both to sort of use the supreme court moment not as a way to get into the granular details of this confirmation battle that's already brewing on the hill, but instead to connect the supreme court to the issues they've been talking about here, the pandemic and how that connects with the economic situation on the ground in places like flint as well as the way that americans are focused

on their health care. you'll remember the supreme court is set to take up a case a week after the election that could roll back some of those pre-existing conditions covered in the affordable care act. the biden/harris ticket trying to connect the issue of health care, what we know is already on the top of mind of voters, to this moment. i was talking to a few business owners on this block before i came and joined you, craig. when i asked them if they were following the supreme court battle, i got motivated nods all arou around. they are definitely tuned in and paying attention. i want to play for you something else they said is important in this upcoming election. listen. >> i want honesty and truth because i'm 55 years old and i never remember the country being this vicious. >> craig, of course, the biden/harris ticket going to be focusing on health care. they've also spent a lot of time

focusing on the economy, places like flint, crappaling as so many cities across the nation are with the fallout from this pandemic. as i've been talking to business owners on this block, flint is no stranger to hardship but they're resilient in cities like this. they're looking forward to a time when we can stop wearing masks, be past this pandemic and see the stores on blocks like this start thriving again in the aftermath of the pandemic, craig. >> ali vitali in flint. sahil, you've got new reporting out this morning. here is the headline. i'll read it for our viewers and our listeners on sirius satellite radio. stoking his base, trump warns of a kamala harris presidency. take us through this strategy that you write about. >> reporter: craig, we're increasingly seeing this from president trump in his campaign rallies and text messages. the president is trying to elevate kamala harris and stir

up his base against the prospect that she could become president. in his view there's a conspiracy theory that biden will get elected, quickly step down and make kamala harris president. there's no evidence of this, but we can see why he does it when you watch him at his rallies, the visceral reaction, the antagonism that kamala harris draws. he has not been able to get that kind of antagonism from his supporters, from his swing voters towards joe biden. he's trying to portray kamala harris as a stand-in to stir up voters to the prospect she could become president. i spoke to some trump surrogates and allies who have mixed views. one said by highlighting her progressive record in the senate you could turn swing voters. other trump surrogates are sceptical about this. they say voters don't vote on the president, they vote on the president and simply this strategy is not going to do it. one thing i'll point out, kamala

harris' favorable. a key thing is 25% of the country does not have an opinion of her. i think defining her positively or negatively could r could have an impact. >> issayhil, a few stops in michigan, detroit and in flint. just last hour president trump delivered some remarks to the united nations general assembly. usually that is, of course, a major event there in new york city. this year it's happening for the most part virtually. his comments reflecting how much this pandemic has changed things. i want to turn back to shannon pettypiece. past speeches by president trump to this group were, shall we

say, quite boastful. what was the message to world leaders today in potentially his final speech of his administration. >> this is a speech that comes with a lot of pageantry with the president in new york, traveling through the city streets to the assembly. this year because of coronavirus it was done virtually via a pre recorded message and much shoreder than his typical speech. in the remarks there was a heavy, heavy focus on china. gone was talk of iran and south korea as being the big threats to the world. now his focus was on china, and not just the attacks on china's handling of the coronavirus which we have heard repeatedly from the president, but also an emphasis on china's record on pollution, bringing up their co2 emissions, a dumping of plastic in the ocean, destruction to coral reefs, things we have not heard this president talk about before as well as human rights issues like slave labor.

i will say there was no heavy emphasis on china's handling and response to hong kong, however. obviously this is a big change in tone from the president who really applauded china a year ago, now making the centerpiece of his critique on the global state of affairs. >> shannon pettypiece at the white house, thank you. we're following breaking news in texas this hour. tropical storm beta dumping heavy rain, flooding streets. we'll go live to houston as officials there warn of a possible life-threatening storm surge. also this morning, two new polls in key states for both the white house and the senate. the split in a tight race in iowa that pollsters say they've never seen before and the glimpse at the presidential race in georgia where things could not be closer.

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got some more breaking news right now. 11 million people are under a flash flood watch as tropical storm beta slowly crawls along the southeast, texas coastline. folks awakening to torrential rainfall, major flooding as that storm made landfall overnight. this is just norlt of port o'connor, texas. this the scene as you can see, cars nearly submerged.

let's get right to nbc's morgan chesky on the ground in galveston. morgan, what's it like where you are? >> reporter: craig, good morning from houston. we are seeing the impact of tropical storm beta within the last few minutes was downgraded to a tropical depression. it's been an interesting storm to follow, a slow mover as it made its impact on the texas coast last night. did not bring a lot of wind with it. but as you can see here, no shortage of rain. it initially made laund fall around matta gorda bay. it's dumped in some areas more than a foot of rain. that could continue throughout the day today. that's why officials in houston are telling folks, if you don't have to be out on the roads, don't do so. it only takes a few inches in this houston area to cause some major problems. we've seen videos on social

media of first responders going into those rising waters having to rescue stranded drivers this morning. the underpasses especially dangerous. for several hours today parts of a highway in houston lad to be shut down because areas were submerged. this storm could pose a problem here in houston and also in louisiana. that's certainly a concern in southwestern louisiana. you have lake charles. you have thousands of people still without power from hurricane laura just a few weeks ago. a lot of those people have yet to repair the roofs over their homes. that's why you're starting to see a lot of storm fatigue along this stretch of the gulf coast in particular. keep in mind that we're not even through hurricane season yet. here in houston today, people are glad that at least this storm has been downgrade dollar. the real threat going through the remainder of today is going

to be this rain that, even though we had blue skies and sunshine a few minutes ago, it's continuing to fall down and could pose a serious problem. craig. >> morgan chess ski in galveston, thank you. it seems as if you have lurched from one natural disaster to the next over the better part of the last three weeks. stay safe. for the second time in less than a week a federal judge has ruled against the u.s. postal service. the judge's ruling orders the postal service to reverse some key changes that were imposed by postmaster general louis dejoy that affected election-related mail. nbc's jegeoff bennett has been following this story from the beginning. walk us through the judge's ruling and how it potentially affects the usps and its workers. >> reporter: this is important, craig. as you know, voting is already under way. i'm sure people who have voted by mail or plan to vote by mail

have a lot of questions and concerns about whether their ballot will be received on time. the takeaway is this. you now have two federal judges, one in new york state. the other in washington state ruling in similar ways. they say the changes put in place by the postmaster general, those changes that have created delivery delays could disenfranchise voters. i want to read you part of the ruling. while the court has no doubts that the postal service's workforce comprises hard working and dedicated public servants, multiple managerial failures have undermined their ability to fulfill their vital mission. what this court is mandating is unless the plaintiffs and the postal service can reach some agreement, then judge marrero is dictating that the postal service has to do a couple things, one, treat all election mail as first class mail or priority mail so it's expedited. he's also saying the postal

service will have to pre approve all worker overtime for the two weeks around the election. last night i reached out to the postal service to get a response. i'll read part of that. the postal service is reviewing the court's decision. there should be no doubt, however, that the postal service is ready and fully committed to handling expected increased volumes of election mail between now and the conclusion of the november 3rd election. here is some news you can use. if you decide to vote by mail, once you get that ballot, read through it closely and closely follow the instructions. if you get two envelope, make sure you use them. make sure you use that secrecy envelope. put your ballot in that, sign it if you have to. put that back inside the postmarked envelope and send it back quickly, two weeks early if you can, or use a state-sanctioned secure drop box. once you do that, a lot of states allow you to track the progress of your ballot once you send it back so you know it was

received. craig. >> geoff bennett with news we can use. appreciate that, geoff. thank you, buddy. the cdc just posted some new coronavirus guidance and then it quickly took it down saying it was posted in error. so what does it all mean? what guidance should we be following from the cdc? i'll talk to an expert. plus new revelations from a top aid who just quit the coronavirus task force. what we're learning as she pulls back the curtain on this administration's response to the pandemic. >> it was frightening. when you're the president, words matter.

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this morning there are new vaccine concerns, also new confusion about the cdc and former aide to the white house task force talking about her time with the administration. all this is happening as we're coming up on 7 million known cases here in the united states. here are the latest facts at this hour. doctors now warning a coronavirus vaccine may not be

available for children until fall of next year. the reason? current vaccine trials have not included children. so researchers will have to wait to see whether there are any serious side effects before they can start testing kids. also, the cdc facing new criticism this morning after suddenly pulling guidance off its website monday that officially confirmed that the virus is, in fact, airborne. the agency says it was posted in error. speaking publicly for the first time on television, former white house coronavirus task force aide olivia troye confirms she quit over the president's handling o of the virus. troye speaking exclusively to my colleague andrea mitchell. >> we certainly had a task force meeting and discussion where we had this conversation, that this was going to be big.

>> that early, january 28th? >> late january we knew. >> i want to bring in dr. peter hotez, the founding dean of the school of tropical medicine at baylor school of medicine and director of the children's hospital for vaccine development. i want to start with the cdc reversing guidance on virus being spread through the air. this is the first time, by our count this year, that they've had to walk back medical guidance. have you lost faith or trust in the centers for disease control? >> this is a tough question. it's clear that the cdc has faltered and made some missteps in 2020, the most significant is missing the entry of the virus into new york from europe. the big question is how much of that is due to faltering in atlanta at the cdc versus direct

white house intrusion and interference. i don't think we really have a good understanding about that. hopefully we'll be able to sort that out in time. in terms of the current recommendation, we know this virus is transmitted by aerosol. there's been multiple papers now written about this. some people get confused between droplet and aerosol. droplet which we've known for a long time is when you cough or sneeze or release particle, they can land in your eyes or nose or mouth and you rub them in or they're on surfaces. the new part is the fact that this virus can be airborne and stay in the atmosphere for a long period of time. that's actually not very common. measles does it, chickenpox does it and now covid-19 does it. >> as we mentioned a few moments ago, you're also the director of the center for vaccine development at texas children's hospital. what do you make of this news that a vaccine for kids may not

be ved difficult until fall of 2021? >> that's not too surprising because the major focus has been getting vaccine out to adults who are at high risk. that's been the focus of the clinical trials. stepdown study, which is what we call them, to kids are happening and are under way. that's not unusual for that to lag behind somewhat. the hope is that we can start getting vaccine out to the people at greatest risk, health care providers, first responders, older americans, those with underlying conditions in the early part of 2021, eventually get the significant percentage to the adult population vaccinated and then move to kids. just to keep things in a realistic time frame, this is still a world record in terms of getting all this done within two years after discovering a virus pathogen. oftentimes it can take eight, nine, ten years afterward.

so i think things are moving about as fast as they can without compromising any type of safety. >> all right. dr. peter hotez, thank you. thanks as always for your analysis. there's a new poll in iowa that puts president trump and the democratic nominee joe biden neck and neck. the experts behind this particular poll say there's a division point here that they've never seen before. we're going to drill in on that. there's a group of voters that politicians always hope for, but they don't always turn out on election day. we're talking about young people. i'm going to talk to a texas high school student about his mission to get his classmates involved. it's all happening on national voter registration day. president obama releasing a new video saying that your vote has never mattered more than it does now. >> what's at stake in this

election is much bigger than joe or the man he's running to replace. what's at stake is whether or not our democracy endures. the folks in power are hoping you will stay home. they're hoping you get cynical. they're trying to convince you that your vote doesn't matter. it's how they win. don't let them. make a plan for how and when you are going to vote. a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer can bring up questions that make you feel like shutting down. go here: findyourmbcvoice.com

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a brand new poll in iowa shows president trump and democratic nominee joe biden in a dead heat, but there's a story behind this poll that surprised even the data experts who conducted it, and it's all about where men and women stand. jay ann seltzer from the firm that conducted the poll told

"the des moines register," quote, i don't know if there's any race in the history of presidential polling in iowa that shows this kind of division. nbc's steve kornacki sifts through polls in a way no one else can. he's here to break it all down for us. what are we seeing in iowa, steve? let's start there and then we'll go to jar gentleman? >> what she's talking about is a gender gap. the size of the gender gap there. first of all, the bottom line, iowa is not a state -- when which talk about all the different battlegrounds that will decide the electoral college, we haven't talked a lot about iowa because this is what 2016 looked like. it looked like trump had an advantage in the fall. election night came and he won it big. i think it cemented for a lot of people it's a big red state in the trump era. we may need to revisit that understanding of iowa. first of all, the overall result

here is a tie, 47-47. almost a ten-point trump win in 2016 now to a tie. iowa, by the way, as a state has more of those obama, obama, trump counties. a third of the county did that, voted for obama twice, switched to trump. this poll suggests biden might be making inroads here. you get to the question of the jepder gap. in 2016 in iowa this was the breckdown, men and women. donald trump still winning men in iowa by more than 20 points. the advantage for joe biden among women, basically in reverse, it mirrors that. it's a 41-point difference. trump is 21 points ahead in this poll among men in iowa and trump is 20 points behind among women in iowa. a 41-point swing between the two

genders. that poquote from the poll director mentions that. georgia, 2016, traditionally red state, donald trump carried it by five points in 2016, that was down a bit from how how republicans like mitt romney did in georgia. this from the atlanta constitution, trump and biden. the significance here, craig, iowa and georgia, a couple other states like this, maybe ohio, for instance. they're states we haven't talked about as the core battleground. we talked about these six states as the core battleground of this presidential election. the three midwest states that were so close in 2016. florida, north carolina, arizona. by the way, they're all states where joe biden leads to varying degrees in the polling right now. all states that trump had won in 2012. these new polls from iowa and georgia are a reminder, we talk

about scenarios where trump could get back in and win the race in the electoral college. there's also a scenario where if the polls hold up, biden could win nationally. he could start piling up in the electoral college. >> quickly, what about the senate race in georgia? we don't have a lot of time but what are the latest polls showing there? >> i thought we had it there, but i apologize. that's the other thing, georgia is the home to two u.s. senate races this year. one of them will be decided on election day with all the other senate races. polling showing a competitive race there as well. also georgia, there's a second senate race that will be decided in a runoff several weeks after election day. that's one thing to keep in mind. we talk about the battle for control of the senate. it's possible we get through the election in november, we know who the next president is and we have to wait for a runoff in georgia for that special

election. >> steve kornacki for us there at the temperamental big board, thank you. former presidential candidate and new york city mayor michael bloomberg is spending big in florida again. this time he's helped raise more than $20 million to help felons who have finished their sentences vote this november. mr. bloomberg telling nbc's stephanie ruhle, quote, the right to vote is fundamental to our democracy and no american should be denied that right. we're determined to end disenfranchisement and the discrimination that has always driven it. bloomberg's fund-raising hall. if you want to vote in this election, now is the time to register and there's a group in texas trying to get young people -- young voters registered and excited and to the actual polls. the leader of this group not even old enough to vote himself. i'm going to talk to that young

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right now at the university of louisville, there's a big voter registration drive happening on campus. it's all part of national voter registration day. nbc's cal perry live on the university of louisville. how is the pandemic affecting a big drive like this, cal? >> reporter: definitely changing the way they do things from year to year. this is a special year. not only is this mitch mcconnell's home state, he's in a tight race against amy mcgrath. here people also waiting for the breonna taylor verdict to come down. there's a lot of enthusiasm about getting out, registering people to vote. this is where we find young

students at university of louisville trying to get people to register to vote. thank you for joining us today. i appreciate. you were saying when you did this last year, you had about 60 people out to register. what's different this year? >> so much so different, we're physically registering people. we're giving them postcards with the resources to be able to register themselves on their phones, on their computers when they get home. that's the main difference. we're still having an interactive component, students are writing down why they vote and getting a cute picture out of it as well. >> reporter: it's one thing to get out and vote but why do you want to register people? >> there's so many people who can't vote, who are disenfranchised, students and anyone. i just want to make sure my voice is heard and that i'm speaking up for those who don't have their voices heard right

now. >> reporter: craig, students wrote down why they're registering, "because there are still come who can't." our history is never far behind us. remember to plan your vote. back you to, craig. >> love to see the young people out there making us all a little bit better. cal, thank you. one group that could help decide the fate of this election, young voters of color. and one state where this group could be a huge factor, the state of texas. the deadline to register to vote there in texas, october 5. with the stakes so high, the young people are taking matters into their own hands, working hard to get their peers registered. i'm joined now by the leader of one group working to do that, tulsi is the lead student coordinator for the organization

v.o.t.e., voice of the empowered. he's also a senior in high school. you're just 17 years old, not just, but you're 17, and you can't vote in this upcoming election, won't be old enough. why are you making it your mission to get eligible young voters to the polls? >> first of all, thank you. yes, despite being 17 years old myself, i feel like we all need to be involved in this process regardless of whether you can actually go to the ballots this september. we give people resources, especially on social media, to send out voting information to their fellow high school students and even right here at trinity high school today, we're sending things out over instagram and getting students educated on the importance of voting and registering today. >> your group has laid out a number of empowerment goals. tell us how you're helping young voters navigate through the voting process. >> so, i mean, even not just

young people, even adults, they're having such a hard time figuring out how to be civically engaged. honestly, partisan politics place a big role, people don't like arguing about politics, they would rather focus on policy and things that affect them. through our goals which can be found on our website, we enacted those goals to give really clear ways for students and especially young people as well, ways that they can be civically involved, such as empowering their communities, being directly involved in campaigns, whether that is spreading information, and by doing so, not only does that give us a direction but it gives students ownership in the civic process as well. >> your group started empowerment week 2020 to get young people registered, to get them motivated to vote by using social media platforms. you just talked about instagram specifically. have you seen an increase in engagement and interest from young voters?

>> yes, of course. and i think especially in the light of this pandemic and a lot of us staying at home, we've really taken into account all the things happening around us today. i think a lot of people are undermin undermined, we're not respected in a way. we care about policy, we care about the world around us. our vote is the future. young people always love this nation in so many different ways, whether that's the voting age or ending the vietnam war. the voice of empowerment, we really want to usher in a new era of democracy where it's we the people, not we the democrats, we the republicans, or we the any party. it's we the people working for representative democracy for all of his us. >> do you feel like the candidates on the national level and in texas as well are speaking to the issues that matter to young people like yourself? >> yeah, i think definitely on

both ends of the aisle or even other third party candidates as well. a lot of young people have been doing a lot of the research themselves. right here at trinity high school we're so lucky to have such a diverse environment, we're able to openly talk about our beliefs. at the end of the day we're able to respect one another about it which i think is what turns away a lot of voters as well, because we don't see respect when talking about politics or talking about those kitchen table issues. so i think on a national level and especially a lot of students are beginning to realize about the primary process, especially since this is a major election year, that they really do have a lot of influence in what goes on in the world around them, especially in terms of politics. >> the present may seem a bit grim, but the future quite bright. tulsi, thank you, thanks for all you're doing, buddy, keep it up, thank you, thank you. voting is under way in some

states across this country already. absentee voting starts today in missouri with some restrictions. and this year, any voter who is at risk of contracting or transmitting covid is eligible to vote absentee, according to "the kansas city star." if you're looking for how to plan your vote, there's a great resource to help you. nbcnews.com/planyourvote. it's an interactive, state by state guide. that will do it for me this hour. next hour, new jersey senator cory booker who sits on the judiciary committee will join my colleague andrea mitchell. start with america's most awarded network. include the best in entertainment and offer plans to mix and match starting at $35. plus, buy the samsung galaxy s20+ 5g for less than $5 per month, and get another on us. only at verizon. with safe, convenient service. we're here for you >> tech: we'll come right to you. ♪ upbeat music

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to wipe away trump's stain on america for good. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington where president trump's push to place a third justice on the supreme court got a big boost today with senator mitt romney announcing he will support a vote on whoever the president nominates for the supreme court, a nomination the president is planning to announce on saturday. >> i recognize that we, uh, uh, we may have a court which has more of a, uh, conservative bent than it's had over the last few decades. but my liberal friends have over many decades gotten used to the idea of having a liberal court, and that's not written in the stars. if a nominee reaches the floor,floor, i